Saturday, 22 June 2013

[Vocal Profile] Haley Reinhart

Vocal Pluses: An emotive singer, this Diva demonstrates great control over her instrument in its upper reaches. Her voice is characterized by its ability to growl emotively, and go from a sweet whisper, to a belt at forte. Her voice also has a nice natural rasp that gives the voice a false sense of thickness.

Haley Reinhart's lower register, is thin and lacks resonance, though the tone is nasal, reedy, and sweet. She loses resonance as she dips below B3. Despite this fact, she wields it with nice artistry; using the thinness of this register to give the voice a great sense of dynamics, being able to go from a low whisper-like note to an elastic belt easily [Hear:Oh My]. However, her technique in this region is questionable, with notes often being reached by forcing the larynx down.

Her mid voice, spanning C4-C5, is still light in both weight and volume which gives her voice an overly delicate and youthful sound [Hear: Wasting Tears]. The voice breaks at around C5 where her falsetto gives way. Her tone in this area is rather guttural and edgy at times [Hear:Wasting Tears] but can be softer, and cooler [Hear: Hit the Ground Running]. This area is quite easily accessed, though at times she can sound monotone.

Her belting register is her strongest suit, spanning from B4-G#5. She uses this part, combined with her ability to mix and her extensive volume control, to give the voice added dynamic [as heard in the D5 of Oh My and the C#5 of the chorus of Undone]. She has quite a durable voice, being able to "growl" for extensive periods with little if any resulting vocal deterioration. She also has extensive stamina in this region, being able to sing difficult lyrical passages [as heard in her many American Idol covers and her song Keep Coming Back]. Her tone in this region is very reedy, though its texture is very raspy.

Haley has a well developed mix and relies heavily on falsetto, rather than true head voice. It extends upwards to Soprano E. Her tone here is a dead ringer for a piccolo, and is in contrast to the rest of her voice. It is warm and has a light weight fragility to it. She can switch to head tones within the space of a breath and exhibits great dexterity here. Her mix is stellar and uses great technique to achieve this sound. (Just about every single song she has created shows off her head tones.)

Vocal Negatives: Thin light voice, is a very acquired taste and has trouble being heard over instrumentation in a live setting. Her technique in her belting register needs polish, as there is questionable technique and a lack of mixing involved when singing. Her growling, similarly, employs questionable technique. A listener may also take issue with the nasal and bight tone present in her full voice, her rasp, and her weak lower register.

I agree with opie's advises. the phrase "this Diva" made me laugh hard hahaha well if you think she's a diva that's fine to me but i find it really inappropriate to be written in this article. and i really hate how you contradict your sentences like"However, her technique in this region is questionable, with notes often being reached by forcing the larynx down.""though at times she can sound monotone." "though its texture is very raspy."why don't just put them in the vocal negative ? for me this profile article will be better if you delivered it straight and a bit more concise

but i really really appreciate your effort in this blog and your more in depth reviews

They will be fixed. As for rasp, that is not a vocal negative as that is subjective which is something I tried to address. When it comes to her sounding monotone, comes with the fact that she doesn't showcase a lot of diversity in the mid voice area and often sounds exactly the same (Which I should place in the negative section lol) The thing about the lower larynx comes this way.... I'll just say I've asked DD about setting up a vocal description that describes the voice from low to high discussing the ease in the particular areas, and then pointing out the negatives below the description. (Trial and error, I guess but still working on perfecting it) I view it as a much easier way to go deeper in depth than just to state positives and negatives. Thanks BTW.

"I loved her...(On singing "Blue") I think it’s really hard to do that with your voice, just to switch between that falsetto voice and your chest voice like that. That’s such a talent; not everybody can do that. For her to sing it so perfectly every time, I thought she was great...I remember my favorite thing, we did the sing-for-your-life performance after Hollywood week and after Vegas, and she did ‘Lady Marmalade’ with a bass player. I just love her"

Another on HOTRS:

"Jimmy Iovine said in one of the sessions — I don’t know if it aired — but he said, ‘People don’t understand what a good singer you are.’ It just bothered him. ‘People really don’t understand you’re an amazing singer here.’ I was so happy he said that."

Her college Jazz instructor:

"...he told me it was her range that was extraordinary. Not to mention the texture of her voice, and its amazing depth.

When she hit those high notes, he said, it would make the hair stand up on the back of your neck.

She is, Ken continued, a little like Johnny Cash or Elvis.

'You’re comparing her to Johnny Cash and Elvis?' I asked. 'That’s high praise.'

Thank you this profile. I believe Haley is one of the most exciting/original singers to come along in long time. As a jazz devotee I appreciate her ability to imitate brass instruments as demonstrated in this video taken at a New Orleans jazz club http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvouGjJAEL4

This "freaking nobody" is more talented and deserving of recognition than many divas. Haley played Lollapalooza (her music), Carnegie Hall (jazz standards) and a televised gig with Slash (rock) in the same year. She also co-wrote 13 of the 14 songs on her album, a half dozen of which have been used on television and one in a major motion picture.

Ah yes! Now I remember. Had a fun fight with Haley fans over on youtube like at least a year ago. ( who btw were even more ridiculously than any other stans I've come across)They were all convinced once her first single and album dropped ...this girl would sell hundreds of millions.And...did she?

Its sad that she didn't. Though her voice is hit or miss for some, her music and lyricism is surprisingly good. I'm a loose fan of hers and discovered her through a fan and I was hooked on her song undone, then went on an illegal downloading spree of her album... Then again, all music is good music when you don't pay. lol

I say she is good at that jazzy genre but not nearly as good as her fans think she is. Those stans were seriously the silliest>Totally hateful and ridiculous to anybody who was even the slightest bit critical and they formed this group that was trying to get the youtube view count up to a million. Seems they thought if they all watched that video themselves as often as humanly possible...that said something about Haley. ROFL

Haley's album received positive reviews in the New York Times, the LA Times and SPIN magazine. There are many artists who sell more but their work is less impressive. Thanks to immature girls and tin-ear, pea-brains like you.

You don't need to justify or downplay what you like to someone who is only looking to tear someone down. This is the type of person who goes looking for a fight and when he gets one he resorts to calling people "hateful."

Wait, you got Opie all wrong. I am a loose of fan of Haley, first off, and I like her discography quite a bit. I see no need to defend Haley either, since these people are entitled to their opinions. Opie only states her mind and she has complimented Haley in the aspect that her Jazzy inspired music is pleasant and good. She can't help that Haley doesn't 100% suit her taste.

Please, don't come off as a one of those stans who come here and hoplessly defend a singer. We see enough of them as it is.... The people here are entitled to their opinions and even if I disagree with them, I respect it. If they are stating something that I don't like I will not even respond unless they are just absolutely wrong...or I can make the most of their statement. And none of these people are wrong for expressing their opinions...

Is Haley underrated? Yes, but do these people have to right to state what they feel? Yes. It comes off as if you are trying to get me on your side in a hope to get Opie riled up. I don't see why you even have a problem with Opie because she didn't say anything bad at all.

I am about to tell you what is going to happen. You are going to end up in an argument with her, to her leisure because she won't care, while you are the only one getting riled up. Not to be rude, but I'd prefer you to just stop now. If you plan on becoming a regular here, tone down the aggression and show some respect to the people who go forward to give their opinions.

While i agree with some of the things you said in this profile it just bugs me that anyone can make up a profile and put whatever they think. Unless your a voice teacher or someone who is very knowledgeable in vocal health (most likely have a degree) I don't think you or anyone should be making profiles. For this website we need a official vocal coach or something. As regarding the comment about this girl not being a diva I agree whole heartedly. There's a long list of divas that deserve profiles. In my opinion this girl just screams on her higher belts. While I'm sure she has some natural rasp, i recall when i watched the season of AI when she was on her technique was not very good. Literally the other day on a Christina video someone said "oh that's not strain when she sings its natural rasp" LOLOLOL Natural rasp my ass. I actually love christina and hope she gets an amazing voice teacher.